I have a number of the plants each year, due to birds dropping the indigestible seed. If you can find them when they are young plants, they can be easily pulled up, but the native species, Phytolacca americana, is a perennial and can develop a very large, fleshy root, similar to a carrot or parsnip, only white in color. If your soil is loose, they can also be pulled up, but in hard packed soil, clay, for example, will require digging them up. You must get all of the root or they can reemerge.
Sorry, I haven't found another method to permanently remove them and as long as there are berry eating birds around, you can never be completely rid of them!
All parts of the plant are poisonous to humans, although many people do consume the tender leaves, when they first emerge in the spring. The leaves are repeatedly boiled during three water changes to remove the toxins and ingestion is limited to small quanities each time.
IMO, there are numerous green, leafy vegetables, that require less time to prepare and are just as tasty and probably more healthy than "poke salat". :Rb

Buy Round-up BRUSH killer concentrate. Buy a $1.00 sponge foam paint brush, about 1 inch wide. When the temperatures reach 80* and the poke sallet plants are actively growing, paint the leaves with the Round-up. This keeps the weed killer on just the plants and off your lawn. They key is to buy BRUSH killer and CONCENTRATE. It will kill the roots.

It is sad to hear of your battle against a perfectly beautiful native American plant that thrives North to South and westward beyond the Mississippi River. Not only is poke (_Phytolacca americana_) a thing of beauty--tropical-looking leaves, attractive flowers and fruit, gorgeous maroon stems, but also it feeds a host of wild birds--those birds, e.g., mockingbirds and catbirds, that do not visit birdfeeders. My advice to you is to respect and embrace this fine native plant rather than carrying out chemical warfare against it. There's a fine description of poke on Floridata. Google the phrase _poke floridata_ to learn more about this botanical gem.

WARNING
The roots, berries, seeds, and mature stems and leaves of pokeweed are dangerously poisonous. Only the young shoots and developing leaves (before they take on their reddish hue) can be eaten, and only after boiling for 20-30 minutes in at least two changes of water. Be very careful not to get any of the root when picking the young shoots. Pokeweed should not be cultivated anywhere there is a chance that a person might try to eat the berries.

Pokeweed is an alternative host for several plant viruses that feeding insects can transmit to members of the Solanaceae, Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae growing nearby.

As a kid, I used to mash up Pokeberries and use them for dyeing wrapping paper. The color was beautiful, and the paper looked really, really, expensive.

Those chemicals that kill plants are not exactly vitamins. I become mildly ill every time my neighbor sprays herbicide on his property. He goes to the hospital. How difficult is it remove weeds and throw them on the compost, anyway?

I am an organic gardener but have resorted to a foray into chemical applications for poison ivy wrapped around my peonies. The polk weed is a real problem for me too. I do not see it as beautiful when it blankets my yard edges and shows up everywhere! I have been digging it up but must say that it often snaps off at the root and regrows. I will keep at it but does anyone know if it will die even if the root remains if you keep breaking it off?

This probably isn't too helpful, but poke sallet's delicious.If you change the water 2-3 times when boiling, it tastes a lot like asparagus.But only pick the very young shoots.
We used to eat lots of it in the spring.